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Historical Fiction Introduction
Historical Fiction may be the most time-consuming genre to write in, albeit the most fascinating. By the end of this blog post, you will have a better understanding of the key elements of this genre, along with writing prompts to inspire your own creations.
What is Historical Fiction?
According to Historicalshelf’s article “What Is Historical Fiction?“
“Historical fiction is a literary genre that takes place in the past and incorporates real historical settings, events, or figures into its narrative. The stories are fictional—meaning the plot and often the main characters are invented—but they unfold against an authentic historical backdrop that’s been carefully researched and reconstructed.”
Therefore, this literary genre is dependent on writing stories set in the past, during real-world events and places.
What are the Necessary Components of Historical Fiction
In order to accurately write a historical fiction story, you must have these key elements.
Setting
Your historical fiction has to be set in the past, preferably more than fifty years or so. The fun and also the most grueling part of this literary genre is the effort you put into researching. Before beginning your story, make sure you have learned about your character’s daily life in that time period.
Characters
In your historical fiction, you are allowed to use real people or make up your own characters. Ensure that each wears, speaks, and acts according to their location, background, and time period.
Events
Your historical fiction has to take place in the past, hence why it’s called historical. You can make up timelines and character interactions, but you should follow how actual events played out in history.
Obstacles
Like all fiction, your historical story must have conflict that drives your story and characters. Since your historical fiction takes place in the past, make sure those issues are accurate to the time period.
For example, a Victorian child wouldn’t be faced with cyberbullying problems.
Different Sub Genres
Historical Fiction has many categories that stories can be placed under. For a deeper dive into each, check out Self-Publishing School’s article “21 Subgenres of Historical Fiction + Categories To Specify.”
- Traditional Historical Fiction
- Historical Romance
- Multiperiod Series
- Historical Western
- Historical Mysteries
- Historical Thrillers
- Time Travel
- Historical Fantasy
- Biographical Fiction
- Historical Adventure
- Historical War Fiction
- Regency Fiction
- Ancient Historical Fiction
- Historical Gothic
- Historical Crime Fiction
- Victorian Historical Fiction
- Tudor Fiction
- Nautical Historical Fiction
- Pioneer Fiction
- World War II Historical Fiction
- Holocaust Fiction
How Historical Fiction Came to Be
According to Britannica’s article “Historical Novel,” historical fiction
“more often attempts to portray a broader view of a past society in which great events are reflected by their impact on the private lives of fictional individuals.”
Finding the first recorded novel of this genre is difficult. There are scholarly debates on what constitutes its first appearances.
Notably, we can include
- The Iliad by Homer
- The Knight’s Tale by Chaucer
- Richard III by Shakespeare
However, at the time, these stories/plays/epic poems were not seen as a part of the historical fiction genre until much later, when it was fully realized.
Instead, scholars claim the first historical fiction story to be in the form of a novel.
This includes,
- Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
- Pamilla by Samuel Richardson
- Waverly by Sir Walter Scott
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Naturally, Western fiction and male authors are the easiest to find as our first examples. However, with a deeper dive, we can find other novels written around the same time that scholars have argued are the first examples of what set the stage for modern Historical Fiction novels.
Examples:
- Don Carlos by César de Saint-Réal
- La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette
- Thaddeus of Warsaw by Jane Porter
- The Hungarian Brothers by Maria Porter
For more research on how the historical fiction genre came about, it is encouraged by History through Fiction’s article “The History of Historical Fiction, in brief,” to read
- The Historical Novel by George Saintsbury
- The Historical Novel by Georg Lukacs
- The Historical Novel in Europe by Richard Maxwell
- The Historical Novel by Jerome de Groot
Must Read Historical Fiction Novels
If you want more inspiration or a good option for recreational reading, check out some of the most popular historical fiction stories!
- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- James by Percival Everett
- Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
- Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
- Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- David Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Trust by Hernan Diaz
- I, Medusa by Ayana Gray
- As Good as Dead by William Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone
- Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane
- Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid
- Camino Ghosts by John Grisham
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- I, Claudius by Robert Graves
- Pompeii by Robert Harris
- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
- Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard
- Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
- Regeneration by Pat Barker
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction Writing Prompts
Now that you have an understanding of the historical fiction genre and its key components, take a stab at writing your own story. Naturally, you will need to do more in-depth research on your desired time period and location before starting.
Pick a writing prompt that inspires your curiosity. Take fifteen minutes to do brief research before jumping into a quick write.
To better understand how writing prompts work, check out the blog post below!
Prompts
- Looking around, the quiet of space disheartened her and made her think about her young infant still on earth.
- He smelled his best friend’s burning corpse before jumping behind another body as the Germans started crawling closer.
- Suddenly, the Titanic lost power. It was a cold darkness that caused the remaining passengers to scream.
- He frowned while smoking, contemplating his wife’s words. To leave Alabama now?! He was just beginning to grow his cotton production.
- They traversed on their horses, aware of their late arrival for tea with the most unpleasant of relatives. Perhaps a husband was finally chosen for the youngest.
- She walked up to the two, looking down at an open newspaper, and threw her hot coffee at their wolf-like grins. “That was my invention! Mine! And you two claimed it as your own!”
- The duke tasted like the oysters he had been slurping down just moments before. She didn’t mind and leaned forward, awaiting another kiss.
- “She must have crashed somewhere!” he said. “No, no, Amelia Earhart was clearly killed on purpose by the government! Look at my clues,” she retorted, gesturing to her large collection of newspaper clippings, maps, and possible suspects.
- They gathered in the street, hearing angry chants of “down with the king!” and “down with the queen!”
- Their father said he found a new job working on the railroads, but that meant they had to leave their farm.
- It was an illustrious party full of champagne, live jazz, and sweaty dancing feet in heels. In fact, it may have been the happiest he had ever felt.
- The floors were freezing, and she regretted not taking the time to dress more warmly. But this couldn’t wait. The jestor had said to meet at dawn for a surprise.
- A gunshot was heard, silencing the saloon. He walked, spurs clinking, to the piano and started choking the pianist.
- She ran back from the pond. She had never seen those kinds of tools before and wanted to tell her father.
- The snow kept coming and coming. Pretty soon, his house’s windows were blacked out as he huddled by the fire.
- He bowed his head at the Empress a second too late. She turned, and her gaze burned into his head. “Do you forget your place?”
Conclusion
Historical fiction is a great way to get involved with history and transport your reader into the past. The possibilities are endless!
What time period sticks out to you? What makes it so fascinating? Create your own historical fiction story now and share your findings with others.
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